Perdeberg Chenin Blanc Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2009

When colleague Angela Lloyd asked me to nominate my top 100 wines in South Africa as part of a survey for the Grape.co.za website, I took the liberty of including Perdeberg Chenin Blanc on the basis that there are few wines that are more reliable in terms of providing satisfying everyday drinking.

In December last year, we headed out to the cellar to stock up on a couple of cases of the Chenin to see us through the festive season. While there, the tasting room assistant insisted we try the Reserve Chenin Blanc-Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon on special at R25 a bottle, and we didn’t hesitate in buying a case.

Opened one of the few remaining bottles this weekend and again marveled at the quality relative to price that this wine delivers. The three different constituent varieties combine to good effect with the Chenin Blanc providing overt fruitiness, the Sauvignon freshness and the Semillon (apparently wooded) palate weight.

The bad news is the wine is now sold out so I guess we’ll be defaulting to the Chenin which goes for R26.95 a bottle from the tasting room if you pay cash. Perdeberg, which processes some 18 000 tons a year, really should be considered a national treasure.